CHENNAI: After successive scams rocked the examination and evaluation of mark sheets in Anna University, the premier engineering institution of the state is planning to introduce online evaluation of answer scripts. The university will soon send a team of professors to Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) in Belgaum to study its online evaluation and question delivery method.

“The technology-based examination system needs to be done in different stages. In the first step, the delivery of question papers will be made online without physically transporting them to the exam centres. It would prevent question paper leaks,” said M K Surappa, vice-chancellor of Anna University. As per the existing process in VTU, coded question papers are made available just 30 minutes before the commencement of examinations at exam centres. The invigilators must take printouts and issue the question papers to the students. After the examination, the answer scripts would be scanned for online evaluation. “The faculty members can go through the answer sheets on screen. When the answers are matched with the answer keys, they can award marks. Marks would be automatically added by the computer reducing errors in totalling marks,” the VC said. Very often, students apply for revaluation for errors in totalling marks. It would make the revaluation process also easier. “During the revaluation, we would ask someone else to evaluate the answer scripts. This process will speed up evaluation process and results could be declared much faster compared to the existing methods,” a professor said. To prevent malpractice, answer sheets are likely to be coded to prevent students from tracing or chasing them. University had recently nixed degrees of 130 students“We hope this would significantly reduce the exam malpractices,” Mr.Surappa said.

Recently, the university has cancelled the degrees and exam results of 130 students for involving in exam malpractices. It also terminated 37 temporary staff for colluding with agents or middlemen to help the students with bulk arrears. After the examinations, the staff had taken out the answer sheets from the bundle and handed over it to the students to write the exams outside the exam halls. Later, filled in answer sheets were inserted into the bundles. In some cases, the students wrote on the same answer scripts modifying the page numbers.